At the Center

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox album | name = At the Center | type = studio | artist = Meat Beat Manifesto | cover = MeatBeatManifestoAtTheCenterCDCover.jpeg | alt = | released = 24 May 2005<ref>{{ cite web |url=http://brainwashed.com/common/htdocs/discog/thi57159.php?site=mbm07 |title=Meat Beat Manifesto – At the Center |work=Brainwashed |accessdate=12 March 2015 }}</ref> | recorded = | venue = | studio = | genre = Nu jazz, breakbeat, house | length = 56:41 | label = Thirsty Ear <small>THI57159.2</small> | producer = Jack Dangers | prev_title = Storm the Studio RMXS | prev_year = 2003 | next_title = Autoimmune | next_year = 2008 }} {{Album ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/at-the-center-mw0000655193|title=At the Center – Meat Beat Manifesto|publisher=AllMusic}}</ref> | rev2 = ''The Guardian'' | rev2Score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/oct/14/jazz.shopping3 |title=Meat Beat Manifesto, At the Centre |publisher=The Guardian |access-date=October 14, 2005 |last=L Walters |first=John}}</ref> | rev3 = ''Pitchfork'' | rev3Score = 7.1/10<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5196-at-the-center/|title=Meat Beat Manifesto: At the Center|website=Pitchfork}}</ref> | rev4 = ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' | rev4Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/meat-beat-manifesto-center|title=Music Review: Meat Beat Manifesto – At The Center|website=Tiny Mix Tapes}}</ref> | rev5 = ''Tom Hull – on the Web'' | rev5Score = B+<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=meat+beat+manifesto |title=Grade List: Meat Beat Manifesto |publisher=Tom Hull – on the Web |access-date=February 13, 2022 |last=Hull |first=Tom}}</ref> }}

'''''At the Center''''' is an album by Meat Beat Manifesto, released in 2005 as part of the "Blue Series" of Thirsty Ear records fusing jazz with electronica.

Jazz elements had been featured in occasional Meat Beat Manifesto songs over the years, but ''At the Center'' is the first outright jazz album in the group's catalog, with bandleader Jack Dangers' collaborators being a trio of prominent jazz players. The album is mostly funk- and fusion-oriented, with a few abstract or free-jazz leaning songs. It consists of instrumentals but has some scattered vocal samples, notably on two songs featuring vintage recordings of poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti reading newspaper classified advertisements (the album's notes misidentify Ferlinghetti as Kenneth Rexroth).

''At the Center'' earned mostly positive reviews from critics of both jazz and electronic music. However, Dangers opted to not continue his exploration of jazz on subsequent Meat Beat Manifesto albums.

==Credits== '''Musicians''' *David King: Drums, percussion *Peter Gordon: Flute *Craig Taborn: Steinway grand piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, clavinet, Hammond B3 organ *Jack Dangers: Bass, Bass flute, Bass clarinet, "everything else" (i.e., samples, synthesizer, shortwave radio, percussion, etc.). *Kenneth Rexroth reading the want ads recorded by Henry Jacobs for KPFA, 1957. Courtesy of Henry Jacobs.

'''Technical personnel''' *Artwork and Album Design: Robert Beam *Producer and engineer: Jack Dangers

==Track listing== #"Wild" – 5:18 #"Flute Thang" – 4:47 #"Murita Cycles" – 4:13 #"Want Ads One" – 4:27 #*Voice: Lawrence Ferlinghetti<ref name=autogenerated1>Kenneth Rexroth#The Beat Generation</ref> #"Blind" – 5:16 #"Musica Classica" – 3:34 #"Bohemian Grove" – 5:20 #"United Nations ETC. ETC." – 3:57 #"Want Ads Two" – 4:25 #*Voice: Lawrence Ferlinghetti<ref name=autogenerated1 /> #"The Water Margin" – 6:34 #"Shotgun! (Blast to the Brain)" – 4:59 #"Granulation 1" – 3:51

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Meat Beat Manifesto albums Category:Thirsty Ear Recordings albums Category:Albums produced by Jack Dangers